Abstract
In 2008–2009 a tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) micro-focus was detected in Northern Zealand, Denmark. No new cases of TBE with an epidemiological link to Northern Zealand has been reported since. Here we undertook to investigate Ixodes ricinus ticks from this endemic micro-focus in 2016 and 2017. In addition to TBEV, I. ricinus ticks may host other pathogens that include Borrelia spp., Babesia spp., Rickettsia spp. and Neoehrlichia mikurensis, together with various endosymbiont microorganisms. To detect multiple organisms we used a metagenomics PanVirus microarray and next-generation sequencing to examine the persistence and evolution of other emerging viruses, bacteria and parasites. Here we report the rise and fall of the Danish TBEV micro-focus in Northern Zealand. However, we identify for the first time in Danish I. ricinus ticks the presence of Uukuniemi virus in addition to a tick-borne phlebovirus and a range of bacteria.
Highlights
Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is a viral infectious disease that causes severe neurological sequelae in humans and has mortality rates of up to 3.0% (Lenhard et al, 2016)
E None of tick pools were positive for tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) using either TBEV specific PCR or the PanVirus microarray (Table T 1)
We have previously shown the presence of TBEV using a TBEV-specific PCR in nymph pools containing EP 50-100 nymphs (Fomsgaard 2009; Fomsgaard 2013) indicating that the lack of detection of TBEV in the C nymph pools was not due to assay performance
Summary
Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is a viral infectious disease that causes severe neurological sequelae in humans and has mortality rates of up to 3.0% (Lenhard et al, 2016). TBE is a growing public health concern in Europe and the overall notification rate in EU/EEA rose from 0.4 cases per 100,000 population in 2015 to 0.6 cases per 100,000 population in 2016 (ECDC 2018). The incidence and geographical range of TBE is increasing in Scandinavia (Jaenson et al, 2012; Sidorenko et al, 2018). In Denmark, TBE has been reported since the 1950s only from the Bornholm Island east of mainland Denmark in the Baltic Sea with an incidence of 3.8 cases per 100,000 persons per year (Ocias et al, 2017; Fomsgaard 2018). In 2008 and 2009, two cases of TBE were reported
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